Did you think that just because the iPhone 4S wasn’t the anticipated iPhone 5 that launch-day demand would be lower than usual, and you could take your good old time getting your order in? We sure hope not, because supplies of the phone are drying-up all over, with most of the US carriers all sold-out for pre-orders.

Try to get an order for an iPhone 4S in now, and you’re going to be looking at a delay while new stocks arrive. Verizon is quoting the end of the month, while AT&T is saying somewhere in the three-to-four week range. At Sprint, you might have a shot with some of the larger-capacity versions of the phone, but the 16GB edition is gone. That’s going to be an important consideration if you’re just now seeking-out an iPhone 4S: you may have to go with a storage option or color choice you weren’t planning to in order to get your phone in a reasonable amount of time.

Another option is looking to retail partners, rather than the carriers directly. You still might miss launch day, but some of their order backlogs are a little less inconvenient. Target, for instance, is still accepting pre-orders today, with expected arrival of the phones sometime next week.